Google’s goal: to organise your daily life

Google’s ambition to maximise the personal information it holds on users is so great that the search engine envisages a day when it can tell people what jobs to take and how they might spend their days off. Eric Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, said gathering more personal data was a key way for Google to expand and the company believes that is the logical extension of its stated mission to organise the world’s information.

Asked how Google might look in five years’ time, Mr Schmidt said: “We are very early in the total information we have within Google. The algorithms will get better and we will get better at personalisation.

“The goal is to enable Google users to be able to ask the question such as ‘What shall I do tomorrow?’ and ‘What job shall I take?’ ”

The race to accumulate the most comprehensive database of individual information has become the new battleground for search engines as it will allow the industry to offer far more personalised advertisements. These are the holy grail for the search industry, as such advertising would command higher rates.

{Google aim is to know everything about you to “personalize” and “organize” your life. This is incredibly ominous because Google is now moving into healthcare. Google wants you to store your electronic personal health records in Google’s databank. Electronic health records combined with your search histories and your commercial records acquired from DoubleClick and other sources will make Google’s portfolios of sensitive personal data the most detailed and complete surveillance dossiers ever complied on individual citizens in the history of the world. Sorry, but the potential for abuse and misuse is far too great. Google should not even be legally allowed to monitor and amass the vast amounts of sensitive personal data they now hold. The last place to keep your most personal health data is in Google’s hands. Adam Bosworth of Google professes that only you will control your health records, but no federal laws exist to guarantee his promise. By law Google’s duties are to shareholders and the bottom line—Google has no legal duty to protect your privacy or freedom. ~ Dr. Deborah Peel Patient Privacy Rights}